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Transient Alerts » in reply to GRB 261011A — GRB, X-ray Transient

In plain words Notable

On 11 October 2026 two satellites, SVOM and Swift, caught a long gamma-ray burst (a brief flash of high-energy light from a distant exploding star) in the southern sky. It lasted roughly a minute or more, depending on the instrument. Within minutes, telescopes around the world saw a fading visible-light and X-ray afterglow at the same spot. Two large telescopes measured the distance from the light's fingerprints: the burst happened at redshift 2.407, meaning the light left roughly 11 billion years ago. The afterglow faded below detection within about a day, and no host galaxy has been clearly detected. It is most likely an ordinary long burst from the collapse of a massive star. Swift's first report of an unusual light curve was withdrawn after a closer look showed that part of it came from noisy detectors.

How unusual is it? Most gamma-ray bursts have no measured distance, but this one has a confirmed redshift (2.407) from two independent telescopes plus a bright afterglow seen in many wavelengths; otherwise its properties look typical, and the initially reported oddity turned out to be instrumental noise.

Written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5-5) from the official reports in this thread, and rewritten as new reports arrived (version 9); last updated . It may contain mistakes: the reports themselves are the authority.

Swift GRB 261011A: Global MASTER-Net observations report

GCN Circular 45905
Swift GRB 261011A: Global MASTER-Net observations report
From: Vladimir Lipunov at Moscow State U/Krylov Obs
Issued: 2026-10-11 17:46 UTC

D.Buckley (SAAO),

V.Lipunov, E.Gorbovskoy, A.Kuznetsov, K.Zhirkov, I.Panchenko, N.Tiurina, P.Balanutsa, V.Topolev, D.Vlasenko,
G.Antipov, A.Sankovich, Yu.Tselik, Ya..Kechin, V.Senik, A.Chasovnikov, K.Labsina (Lomonosov MSU)

A. Gabovich, V.Yurkov (Blagoveschensk Educational StateUniversity)
A.Sosnovskij (Lomonosov MSU)

A. Tlatov, D. Dormidontov (Kislovodsk Solar Station of the Pulkovo Observatory)

L.Carrasco, J.R.Valdes, V.Chavushyan, V.M.Patino Alvarez, J.Martinez,
A.R.Corella, L.H.Rodriguez (INAOE, Guillermo Haro Astrophysics Observatory)

R.Rebolo (The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias)

O.Gress, N.Budnev(ISU)

M. Segura, F. Podesta, R.Podesta, E. Gonzalez (Observatorio Astronomico Felix Aguilar (OAFA)


MASTER-SAAO robotic telescope [1] located in South Africa (South African Astronomical Observatory) was pointed to the Swift GRB 261011A ( S. B. Cenko et al., GCN 45896) errorbox 13536 sec after notice time and 13752 sec after trigger time at 2026-10-11 17:35:53 UT, with upper limit up to 18.0 mag. Observations started at twilight. The observations began at zenith distance = 67 deg. The sun altitude is -11.5 deg.

The galactic latitude b = -79 deg., longitude l = 181 deg.


Real time updated cover map and OT discovered available here:
GRB261011.57 page :: MASTER Database :: MASTER Net (master.sai.msu.ru)

We obtain a following upper limits.

Tmid-T0 | Site |Filt.| Expt. | Limit| Comment
_________|_____________________|_____|_______|______|________

13842 | MASTER-SAAO | C | 180 | 18.0 |
13842 | MASTER-SAAO | C | 180 | 17.8 |
Filter C is a clear (unfiltred) band.


The observation and reduction will continue.
The message may be cited.

[1] - V.M. Lipunov, V.G. Kornilov, E.S. Gorbovskoy, N.A. Tiurina & A.S.Kuznetsov, 2023, Astronomical Robotic Networks and Operative Multichanel Astrophysics, Lomonosov MSU PRESS, 591pp.
http : // www.pereplet.ru/lipunov/625.html

Every one of the gamma-ray bursts GCN reports is posted here.
Relayed automatically from NASA's General Coordinates Network.

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